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AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE CALL.

No. 350,610. Patented Oct. 12, 1-886.

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.,

G. P. WILLIS.

AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE CALL. No. 350,610. Patented Oct. 12, 1886.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheefi 3.

C. F. WILLIS. AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE CALL.

-Patented Oct. 12, 1886,

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UN TED STATE-S PATENT OFFICE. A

CHARLES \VILLIS, OF FERGUS FALLS, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TOALVA H. KIRK, OF SAME PLACE.

AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE-'CALL.

SPECIPICATIONforming part of Letters Patent No.350,610, dated October12, 1886.

Application filed June 30, 1886. Serial No. 206,698. Model) Falls, inthe county of Otter Tail and State of Minnesota, have invei'ited'certainnew and useful Improvements in Automatic Telephone- Calls,of which thefollowing is aspecifieation.

My invention relates to improvements in mechanisms for signaling-callsfor the individual telephones of a series connected with a singleline-wire; and the object of the invention is the production of deviceswhich will enable the call for any one of such instruments to be madewithout sounding the call-bells of other instruments on the sameline-wire.

The object is accomplished by means of the devices illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an elevation of the devicesin their case. Figs. 2 and 3 are respectively front and top views of apart of the mechanism, and Figs. 4 and 5 are detached views of portionsof the same. Fig. 6 is an illustrative diagram showing a line-wire withthree callstations thereon and the circuits involved in the call-system;and Figs; 7 and 8 are detail viewsshowing the armature and pawl-leverattached to the eleclro-magnet connected with an independent battery.

A represents a suitable case adapted to be 7 secured to a wall forsupporting the operative devices of my improvements, and A the door ofthe case.

(r a are wires connected to the telephone wire and extended into theease to the electromagnets Z), whose function is to actuate a lever tomake and'break the circuit of an independent battery which operates thedevices of the improvement.

The independent battery 10 in Fig. 6 of the drawings may be located atany convenient place, and a wire, (1 extends from it to a hollowelcctromagnet, B, in the case. Awire, a, connected to the magnet B,extends to a copper plate or piece, 1, secured to the case. Above thepiece 0 is a copper plate, 0, secured on a pivoted arm, 6, and to thisarm 6 is connected the wire a, leading to the independent battery. A.second arm, e, secured to turn with the arm 0 on the pivot c extends inupright position, to be operated by an armature,

vided with an insulating-plate, d, at its exd, projecting below themagnets b,'and pro tremity. The arm 6 bears against the plate (2 whenthe armature (l is in normal position, and holds the copper pieces 0cfrom contact;

but when the armature- (l is drawn to the mag nets 1) the arm 6 isermitted to moveinward and, carrying with it the arm 6, brings togetherthe two copper pieces 0 c, and completes the circuit with theindependent battery.

The electro-magnet B may be either solidcoved or hollow and produce thesame results;

ture is attached, by riveting or otherwise, a

vertical bar or lever, f, which isinsulatedfrom .th'e armature byvulcanized rubber or other suitable insulating material, I). attached tothe lever f. holds the armature E away from its magnet when the circuitwith the magnet is not complete, but when the cir cuit is made in themanner described the magnet overcomes the force of thespri'ng s anddraws the armature to it. The leverf carries a pivoted arm. providedwith a pawl, f, for engaging notches on the periphery of a segmentalframe, G.

The segmental frame G is supported on a pivot, 9, below the pawl, withthe peripheral notches in position to be successively engaged by thepawl as the segment is turned on its pivot by the pawl. At the side ofthe segment away from the pawl is an adjustable weight, g, for turningthe segment in that direction when free from the pawl. Below the line ofthe notches 9 is a button, It, pivoted to the face of the segmentalframe by an adjustingscrew, it. The screw 7t should clamp the buttontight enough to the frame to hold it in place while allowing it to beturned by a light pressure at either extremity. The upper surface of thebutton It is below the lower line of the notches 9, except an enlargedportion, kflwhich projects abovethe bottom of the notch to which it isadjacent. der the several notches g are holes tapped to button ischanged.

A spring, 3,.

In the frame G, un-- but a hollow magnet is recommended, because to theface of the frame by passing its screw 7; into such one of the holes 9as will place the part It? of the button in coincidence with the notch gof the series corresponding in number with the call-number of thetelephone with which the instrument is designed to be used. The pawl fin entering the successive notches depresses the button It only when itenters the notch with which the enlargement is is coin cident. Ifthepawl reciprocations are continued after the button has beenthus'depressed, and the segmental frame is farther turned towardtheright, the lower surface of the button is thereby made to pass over astationary pin, j, by which the button is again elevated to its originalposition, so that the signaling mech anism will not be made to operatewhen a greater number of calls has been made than the number at whichthe mechanism has been set to operate.

93 is a pawl, arranged to engage the notches g and hold the frame whilethe reciprocating pawl f is making its advance movement. The mode ofreleasing the pawl z from engagement will be hereinafter described.

on a bar, pivoted at its middle, and has an inclined upper surface, on,at its inner end. The outer end is held down by a spring, s. when thenotches 9 have been released from both pawls f and '1', the frame Gcarried a partial turn backward by gravity, and the depressed end of thebutton ]t' (if the button has been depressed by the pawl f, and notafterward lifted by the pin j) bears upon the surface 712. of the bar atand presses down that end of the bar. The button It, when not depressed,passes above the surface m, and does not op'- crate the bar on. Thetravel of the depressed. end of the button over the inclined surface atis ordinarily sufficient to lift that end of the button to its normalposition; but in case it is not elevated sufficiently by the surface021, it will be made to rise to its proper position by sliding over apin, I, held in the plane of the surface in by a fixed arm, Z.

It obvious that the :form and arrangement of the button It and of theparts in connection with which it performs its functions maybe variedwithout departing from the principle of operation; hence I do not wishto confine myself to the speci fie construction and a rrangeme nt shown.

The lowering of the inner end of the bar on raises its outer end torelease a drop, a, which then descends upon the post a and closes thecircuit to an electric bell, in the well-known manner.

a is a lever for lifting the drop a, by means of its pin a, to positionto be engaged and held by the bar III. A sprin s, is provided forretracting the lever. The handle of the lever a projects through a slotin the end of the case so that it can be operated from without the case.A button or hook, a, is provided on the outside of the case to hold thelever-handle down, when desired, to prevent the drop a from falling uponthe post a, and making the circuit with the electric bell, and thus theringing of the bell is prevented at times when it is desired that itshould not ring.

0 is a bar connected to the leverf and to a lever, 1), which has afulcrum, 1). lower end of the lever 1) is a hollow rocking frame ortube, 1', suspended on an arm, r, on a pivot, '1". The arm 1" has aslotted outward portion, a, in the slot 1'' of which the end of theleverp passes and rocks the frame asthe lever is oscillated. Above theinner end of the frame r is a pivoted bar, I, the upper end of which isarranged to engage the end of a rod, i,attachcd to the lever of the pawlf, for turning the pawl to lift it out of engagement with the notches\Vithin the frame r is a loose ball, 7;, which rolls from end to end ofthe frame as the frame is rocked by the movement of the lever j), andwhich when at the inner end of the frame bears against the side of thebar '1 and turns it on its pivot, thereby moving the rod '11 to releasethe pawl i from the notches.

The operation of the mechanism is as fol lows: hen a telephone'call of agiven nu m her is made on the line-wire, the electric cue rent passingto the magnets b draws the armature (Z away from the arm 0 and allowscontact to be made between the copper surfaces 0 c. A circuit being thusestablished through the magnet B, the leverfis drawn over, moving withit the pawl f and the arm 0. The pawl rotates the segment G one notchfor ez'zch ring of the bell or for each period. of electric contact,while the frame 1' is tilted backward during each such period, causingthe ball '0 to roll to the outer end of the frame. At the completion ofthe signaling and when the leverf falls away from the magnet l; and itspawlf is free from the notches g, the frame 1- is again tilted forward,and the ball 12 rolls down against the bar 1 and the pawl is lifted outof engagement. The segmental frame (1 is then free and. falls back bygravity, and the button It, if the calls have been of the number forwhich it has been set to be operative, will, as it is carried along bythe segment, depress the lever m and cause the electric bell to besounded in the manner described. If the calls have not been of thenumber for which the button was arranged to be operative, then thebutton will be in normal position, and as it is carried along by thesegment will pass above the bar on and the bell will not be sounded.

In Fig. 6 the call system isillustrated in (ii agram, showing a]ine-wirc,l,aud ground-wire 2,with three stations on the line-wire, andcall operatingapparatus connectedtherewith. The figure 3 represents thecentral office, and 4-, 5, and 6 three telephones on the line-wire, and7, 8, and 9 their respective call-instruments connected to the line-wireby the wires a a. The call-instrument 7 for the telephone t may bearranged, as it is shown in Figs. II. and 2, to ring its electric bellvwhen two calls are made from the central office, that, S, for thetelephone 5 for three calls, and that, 9, for the Below the ICCtelephone 6 for four calls. lVhen calls are sent over the line from thecentral office, all of the call-instruments are setin operation, but, aswill be readily understood from the foregoing description, the bell ofthat instrument only for which the call was intended will be sounded.

10 is the battery with which the wires a a are connected, and 11 is thebattery with which the wires 20 are connected for ringing the bell 12. 7

My invention can be used for other purposes than telephonecalls-as, forinstance, for operating electric bells when the instrument isdisconnected from a telephone. For this purpose the magnets I) and thepivoted arms e e and the parts connected therewith may be dispensedwith, and the make and break of the circuit with the magnet B can beeffected by a push-button in the door of the case, as illustrated inFig. 1. One wire (shown by dotted line to) leading to the magnet B isconnected to a spring-plate, w, operated by the button y and the otherwire (shown by dotted lines w) is connected to a fixed plate, 2, withwhich the spring-plate a; is brought in contact by pressure of thebutton. The effect upon the operative mechanism, as is apparent, will beidentical with that heretofore described for those parts when connectedwith a telephone.

' I do not wish to be limited in the scope of my claims to the exactforms and arrangementsof parts shown and described, but desireprotection against such other forms and arrangements of parts as willproduce substantially the same results by means that are equivalents ofthose shown and described.

What I claim,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an electric-call apparatus, a movable frame provided with notches,a pawl actuated by an electro-magnet for engaging said notches to movethe frame,- a pivoted piece carried with said frame and arranged tobedepressed by said pawl, and mechanism operated by said pivoted piece toring a bell.

2. The combination, in an electric-call apparatus, of anelectro-magnet,a pivoted frame, notches thereon, a pawl actuated by saidelectro-magnet for engaging said notches to turn the frame, a piecepivoted to said frame and provided with a projecting portion coincidentwith one of said notches, means for retracting said frame when releasedfrom said pawl, and mechanism for ringing a bell arranged to be set inoperation by the return movement of -said pivoted piece, substantiallyas described.

3. In combination, in an electric-call mechanism, an electro magnet, apivoted segmental frame, notches on the periphery thereof, a leveroperated by said electro-magnet, a reciprocating pawl connected to saidlever for engaging said notches, a stationary pivoted pawl for holdingthe frame, a button pivoted on the side of said frame and arranged tohave one end depressed by the action of the reciprocating pawl in oneonly of said notches,

means for retracting said pivoted pawl from the notches and forreleasing said frame, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. The combination, for the purpose set forth, of a notched segmentalframe, a button pivoted to said frame, a pawl for moving said frame .anddepressing said button, and means for elevating the depressed portion ofsaid button by the forward movement of said frameafter the button hasbeen depressed, substantially as set forth.

5.111 combination, in an electric-call apparatus, a pivoted frame,notches thereon, a le ver actuated by an electro-magnet, a reciprocatingpawl connected therewith for moving said frame, a stationary pivotedpawl for holding said frame a button pivoted at the side of said frameand arranged to be depressed by the action of the reciprocating pawl inone of said notches, means for releasing said pivoted pawl from thenotches,and mechanism to be operated by the return movement of saidbutton to ring an electric bell and to elevate said but ton to itsnormal position, substantially as set forth.

6. In combination, in an electric-call mechanism, a pivoted frame,notches thereon, a lever actuated by an electro-magnet, a reciprocatingpawl operated thereby, a pivoted pawl for holding said frame, a buttonpivoted at the side of said frame and arranged to be depressed by theaction of said pawl in one only of said notches, and a fixed surface forelevatoted pawl from the rack by the return movement of said ball,substantially as set forth.

8. In combination with a segment-rack and pawls for moving and holdingthe same, a hollow rocking frame, a rolling ball within said frame,levers for tilting said frame while the reciprocating pawl is movingsaid rack, and a lever operated by the return movement of said ball todisengage the holding-pawl when the reciprocating pawl has ceased tooperate the rack, substantially as set forth.

9. In a telephonecall, electro-magnets connected to the telephone-wire,an independent electro-magnet and a battery therefor, means forcompleting the circuit in said independent magnet and battery by theoperation of said first-named magnets, a segment-rack operated by saidindependent magnet, 'a button con nected to said rack and arranged toring an electric bell, substantially as set forth.

10. In an electric-call apparatus, a reciproeating pawl, a ratchet-wheelor rack operated pressure of the depressed portion of said buttherewith,npivoted button carried with said ton in performing its return movementand 10 Wheel or ruck, a projection on said button i'or simultaneouslyelevating said button to its whereby an end of the button may be donormal position, substantinllyas set forth. pressed by the entry of saidpawl into one only CHARLES F. \VI'L'LTS.

of the notches of said wheel, a weight for re Witnesses: trneting saidwheel or rock, and mechanism EltlUh', 'l. N ELSON, arranged to beopera-led to ring a hell by the MARION T. Osnonx.

